


Home

by Eiliem



Series: Family Reunion [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Brotherhood, D Brothers, Family, Fluff, Gen, POV Third Person, Strawhats, Whitebeard Pirates - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-24
Updated: 2009-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-03 16:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eiliem/pseuds/Eiliem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ace's rescue from Marinford, the Straw Hats hitch a ride on the Moby Dick so Luffy can check up on his brother... and because they forgot to secure transportation of their own.</p><p>Part 1 of the Family Reunion Series</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Дом](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11979219) by [AnnetteDelacroix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnetteDelacroix/pseuds/AnnetteDelacroix)



> Many thanks to Naye for the beta &lt;3

Marco's supporting arm was, at this point, probably the only thing keeping him still standing. Ace couldn't remember ever being this exhausted in his life. Not after training with Garp, not after Whitebeard beat him within an inch of his life, not after his disastrous loss to Teach. Not even during the whole ordeal of Impel Down. But now Ace could feel every hurt, strain and all the weariness from the past several weeks weigh on him like a physical thing. It didn't even matter that the seastone chains were finally – _finally_ – gone. He was drained.

But he was home. Back, at long last, on the Moby Dick where he _belonged_, and his crew seemed as thrilled by the thought as he was. Hands reached out, ruffled his hair, clapped him on the back, squeezed his shoulders affectionately. Voices called out to him, laughed, cheered, and sang _very_ rude songs about Sengoku's Marines. It was overwhelming – in more than one way. Ace was touched, and deeply humbled by the lengths his captain and crew – his family – had gone to in order to save him. But the press of bodies, the noise and commotion were jarring and discomforting. After weeks of pain, stress, anxiety, frustration, _despair_; after the day's shocks and emotional upsets – his deepest, bitterest secret revealed to the world – Ace couldn't take anymore. Not with the memory of Luffy's _stupidrecklessSUIDICAL_ assault on Impel Down still fresh in his mind – and the thought of his brother brought with it a wave of soul-centring warmth "_HE'S MY BROTHER!_" and the memory of sickening terror "_Your brother too is a pirate – he was doomed the moment he set foot in here._"

It was too much. He needed space, he needed sleep, quiet, (food, his stomach helpfully interjected), he needed... not to have some many eyes trained on him when he was about thirty seconds from passing right out in front of everyone – and hadn't they all seen enough of his weakness already?

To his great relief, the crowd pulled back slightly, attention shifting from Ace to some disturbance just beyond his greying field of vision. And then he heard his brother's voice.

"You're going the wrong way." And had he well and truly lost his sanity in prison or was there really a petulant Luffy somewhere on the ship?

"Whose idea was it exactly to let the Marimo lead the way?"

"Shut up!"

"Turn left." _Luffy_..?

"Zoro, that's right."

And there they were, the group he'd met in Alabasta – _a lifetime ago_ – with three additions (a skeleton? _what!?_). And in the lead, Luffy, slung piggy-back style, over Roronoa Zoro's shoulders. The swordsman was holding a suspiciously familiar piece of paper cupped in his hand. _The damn Vivre Card!_ Of course, no wonder Luffy had come after him – though Ace wondered who had finally explained to his brother what the "mysterious" paper was. He owed them a broken kneecap.

Marco, an arm still around Ace's middle, hailed the group. "Strawhat, over here."

Through ears that were almost too exhausted to work anymore, Ace heard his brother made a faint gleeful Luffy-noise and laugh weakly.

"You guys have a really big ship! Zoro got lost."

"Zoro would have gotten lost anyways."

"Idiot gets lost walking in a straight line."

"_Shut up!_"

Luffy looked terrible. He was bruised and bloody, and terribly pale under layers of grime. His entire body was draped limply over his crewmate eyes half-closed, head lolling. Ace looked half-dead and he knew it – he certainly felt it. Luffy looked like Death had picked him up, shaken him like a rag doll, chewed on him with murderous intent, and then decided it didn't want to deal with him quite yet.

Ace wanted to rage at him. _You idiot_, he wanted to shout, _what were you THINKING!?_ But shock and exhaustion sealed his mouth and all her could do was stare at his brother in numb disbelief, while he leaned ever more heavily on his fellow commander.

He watched Luffy lift his head woozily off Zoro's shoulder and look vaguely in Ace's direction. "Mmm, good, you're okay." And then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Ace did not feel okay, wasn't sure if he would ever be okay again. Except... his brother was alive – was safe with his crew – his captain (_father_) was alive and, miraculously, no one had died for his sake.

"Sorry for barging in like this," the blond-haired smoker jerked a thumb in Luffy's direction. "He wanted to see his brother before we headed off."

An earth-rocking laugh interrupted them. "Gurarara! You're popular today Ace."

Ace could _feel_ knots of tension vanish from his body as his captain came into view, smiling with great amusement at the small pirate crew intruding on his ship.

"_Oyaji_-"

Whitebeard gently clapped a massive hand on his shoulder and Ace could almost feel strength flowing into him.

"So that's Shanks' protégé. He going to be as much of a pain in the ass as the Red Hair?"

"Define pain in the ass," one of the women muttered.

A blue-haired man Ace did not recognise stepped forward. "We'll be out of your hair in a minute but – ah, this is embarrassing – could we borrow a life-boat or something? Our ship is still at Shabondy and we didn't think to steal one from the Marines before boarding your ship."

"Gurarara! None of that now, we'll give you a lift – and a chance for the little one to rest." The little one in question was currently drooling into his crewmate's neck and seeming so much younger than his seventeen years. Asleep, Luffy looked small in ways he never did while awake, actual physical size notwithstanding. He looked fragile and vulnerable and Ace _ached_ to see him like this.

But at the same time, he reflected, Luffy – surrounded as he was by the nakama he'd gathered – had probably never been safer.

It was a reassuring thought, and the last coherent one Ace would have for a while. The grey that had been gathering at the edges of his vision was now a thick fog turning everything hazy and indistinct. His ears too, were buzzing and everything sounded like it was coming at him through water.

"…than… ou… much…"

"…rarara… rco… lie down… ounded… infirmary."

If he so much as took a single step, his legs were going to give way right beneath him, he knew it. He refused to faint in front of everyone. He would not faint in front of everyone. Ace felt himself being steereddraggedmoved and focused on the last shreds of his consciousness. He was not going to faint.

_Don't faint. Don't faint. Don't faint. Don'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaint-_

Unlike his brother – and for the first time in his life – Ace managed to hold out until he was properly bundled into a bed before passing out.


End file.
